IS suddenly not working any more

[Skyscraperfan]

Although I treat my lenses were well, the IS of my EF 35mm f/2 IS suddenly stopped working. That is very annoying, because it is the main feature of that lens. f/2 combined with IS made it a night vision lens. I wonder what is wrong with the IS. Might only the switch be broken? Without the IS I basically lose four stops now and need 16 times the ISO to compensate. That makes the lens pretty unusable for low light unless I use it on a camera with IBIS in future.



This problem damages my trust in Canon products further. Two years ago the main board of my camera broke and I had to replace it for more than 600 Euros. I found out that many people had the same problem with that camera and it might happen again with the new main board in a few years. If something like that happens, I wonder if I should invest a lot of money into an expensive Canon camera again.

I wonder how much it would cost to repair the IS. Probably more than half of the lens price and after some time it may break again, as I do not think that the replacement will have a higher quality than the original.

As cameras get more and more complex, Canon might earn a lot of money from repairs in future. We still do not know how long IBIS will last, as the first Canon cameras with IBIS came out two years ago. And what about the electronic viewfinders? How long until they break or at least have hot pixels? The camera of my grandpa still works. How long will our cameras work?

 

[Del Paso]

Same issues with cars, computers TV sets. "Repairability" of electronics, depending on the brands, is between 5 to 20 years...
A Ford T can still be repaired after 100 years, but I doubt this will be possible with a 2022 Mustang after 25 years in case of an electronic failure. Will they still have the adequate diagnosis tools, or the spares? We are living in a "throwaway" era...
My 1933 Leica III still works, but without IBIS, exposure metering, AF, 45 MP and all the wonderful advantages of modern cameras...

 

[AlanF]

Same issues with cars, computers TV sets. "Repairability" of electronics, depending on the brands, is between 5 to 20 years...
A Ford T can still be repaired after 100 years, but I doubt this will be possible with a 2022 Mustang after 25 years in case of an electronic failure. Will they still have the adequate diagnosis tools, or the spares? We are living in a "throwaway" era...
My 1933 Leica III still works, but without IBIS, exposure metering, AF, 45 MP and all the wonderful advantages of modern cameras...

My 17th Century clock still works and keeps good time - wonderful invention the pendulum! If he wants to go back to goods that never fail, he'll have to give up all brands of modern cameras, his computers for processing them, his memory cards etc, and invest in an old plate camera where you did the exposure by temporarily removing the lens cap as even the old mechanical shutters will wear out as even that on a 1DXIII.

 

[Del Paso]

And we should not forget that even old cameras, Leica M5, III G, R 4, SRT 101 sometimes broke down, my EOS 5 D III, 5 D IV and R never did...
I also remember "birding" with my Leicaflex SL 2 and Telyt 560mm, if I told you that 1 shot in 20 was perfect, I'd be lying...
Rather an AF that can break down than none at all...

 

[neuroanatomist]

Pencil and sketch pad. Done.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

It depends on the quality of the components. Modern TVs have components that fail after a few years, but for 50 cents more you could buy a component that survives much longer. Some brands always use the best components that are available. Leica, Zeiss, Hasselblad and also some expensive car brands like Porsche. They may still break, but as late as possible.

The scandal is that manufacturers do not just use cheap components to save money. The often intentionally use cheap components to make sure that the product will break after a few years. Of course if it breaks too early, the customer will switch to another brand, but if all brands do it, all brands will benefit from that practice.

Planned obsolescence - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What I hate is that the company that built the product that broke also benefits from the repair costs.

 

[Del Paso]

I just wouldn't agree with Canon being associated with planned obsolescence. Canon is known for a high degree of reliability, even though, of course, failures can occur.
Same with Leica, Hasselblad, Zeiss and Porsche. And do not ask, please, about the Leica or Porsche repair costs...

 

[AlanF]

I just wouldn't agree with Canon being associated with planned obsolescence. Canon is known for a high degree of reliability, even though, of course, failures can occur.
Same with Leica, Hasselblad, Zeiss and Porsche. And do not ask, please, about the Leica or Porsche repair costs...

Not only that, how many of us could afford a Porsche - certainly fewer than who can afford an R7 or even an R3?

 

[koenkooi]

I just wouldn't agree with Canon being associated with planned obsolescence. Canon is known for a high degree of reliability, even though, of course, failures can occur.
Same with Leica, Hasselblad, Zeiss and Porsche. And do not ask, please, about the Leica or Porsche repair costs...

One of the other patrons at my barber is a mechanic who worked at a Lamborghini dealer, he had the following to say about repairs after the warranty period: "As soon as you sit down and take a sip of the coffee they offered you: that's €1500 already, it only goes up from there". So if you are tempted to get a gently used car of that kind for a low price: think twice

 

[neuroanatomist]

Any product can fail. People generally make accusations of planned obsolescence based on personal frustration and not any actual data. Based on the data from LensRentals, Canon is below average in terms of repair rates (i.e. their bodies and lenses need repairs less frequently than other brands). That certainly argues against the idea that Canon engineers their products to fail (or maybe they do but just don't do it as well as the rest of the industry ).

Personally, I've had two Canon bodies fail and zero Canon lenses fail. In both cases, the repair cost was US$220. For the EOS M that failed, buying a new M2 (as an import from Japan since they were never sold in the US) was only $10 more, so I did that instead. For the 1D X which had the PCB fail, I had the repair done. That's the same fault @Skyscraperfan had with his 1D X, clearly there's a big difference between Canon's repair charges in the US vs. the EU. So for me, that's $450 in repair costs for somewhere north of $50K in Canon gear, i.e. <1% of the cost of gear spent on repairs. Since we seem to like car comparisons here, that's far less than the relative cost of maintaining/servicing any car. Heck, I've spent less on Canon gear repairs than the cost of a single tire for a Porsche.

 

[AlanF]

One of the other patrons at my barber is a mechanic who worked at a Lamborghini dealer, he had the following to say about repairs after the warranty period: "As soon as you sit down and take a sip of the coffee they offered you: that's €1500 already, it only goes up from there". So if you are tempted to get a gently used car of that kind for a low price: think twice

My Toyota Prius has a 10 year or 100,000 mile warranty. Not a whisper of a fault in the 3 years I have had it so far. Every Merc I have had has had serious problems.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Not only that, how many of us could afford a Porsche - certainly fewer than who can afford an R7 or even an R3?

Perhaps people on this forum prefer to demonstrate their machismo not with an expensive car, but rather by whipping out their big…lenses.

 

[Del Paso]

One of the other patrons at my barber is a mechanic who worked at a Lamborghini dealer, he had the following to say about repairs after the warranty period: "As soon as you sit down and take a sip of the coffee they offered you: that's €1500 already, it only goes up from there". So if you are tempted to get a gently used car of that kind for a low price: think twice

A friend of mine once bought a "bargain" Lamborghini. He was happy with the car, until it needed front discs (cast iron ones).
Then my friend suddenly became suicidal, who knows why...

 

[Del Paso]

My Toyota Prius has a 10 year or 100,000 mile warranty. Not a whisper of a fault in the 3 years I have had it so far. Every Merc I have had has had serious problems.

20 years with a Renault Espace 3 petrol. One chip perforated AC condenser, 2 silencers, one out of shedule water pump, and 300000 km. trouble free driving.
Luxury cars are no guaranty for reliability, with maybe, one exception. Lexus???

Perhaps people on this forum prefer to demonstrate their machismo not with an expensive car, but rather by whipping out their big…lenses.

Beware, one French green representative (Sandrine Rousseau) already criticised BBQ as being a symbol of machism and phallocracy.
Shape of sausages?

 

[rpg51]

You used to be able to find frequency of repair statistics for all the different manufacturers of consumer products. Some manufacturers were a lot better than others. It was excellent information that drove my buying decisions.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

For the 1D X which had the PCB fail, I had the repair done. That's the same fault @Skyscraperfan had with his 1D X

There seems to be an issue with the 1D X. I talked about that in a German photography forum and one guy told me that it happened TWICE for him. If the really a problem with the board, I wonder if the replacement is more durable than the original one. Would Canon update the board for an old camera model, if it finds substantial problems after a few years? It seems the 1D X Mark II and 1D X Mark III do not have the problem that often, but of course those are also newer.

I think I would freak out if the same failure happened again and I would have to pay 600 Euros (maybe with inflation now 700 Euros) again.

The other thought of course is: If even those old cameras fail, how long will the new cameras live? They probably have much more electronics and a sensor that is on duty all the time even while you are composing the image. Can heat over time damage the board?

My 1D Mark II even failed after less than 9,000 shots. I was lucky that it was within warranty time. The shutter had to be replaced and since then camera worked fine.

My other Canon lenses have only small issues. For example the 70-200 f/2.8 IS has quite a lose AF/MF switch. So it easily switches accidentally and then you have a few blurry photos, because AF has been turned off.

 

[Rocky]

Electronics fail without warning. They just die. Mechanicals fail with warnibg ahead. Almost all my cars ( post 1985) first fail is due to electronics

 

[Frodo]

To come back to the OP's original question, I had an RF 24-105/4L become decentered. The Canon repair centre diagnosed a faulty IS module. Repair was about 2/3 the price of the lens.
I hope you simply have a faulty switch.